


Toes In The Water

by hermitpanda



Series: Profiles & Pineapples [2]
Category: Criminal Minds, Psych
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitpanda/pseuds/hermitpanda
Summary: “I am psychic.” The boy crossed his arms defensively.Spencer snorted. “No such thing. You’re just cold reading people. What gave it away that the guy had two mistresses?” He followed the other boy as he trudged towards a bike rack at the edge of the beach.“Look, Kid, I’m psychic. You can’t prove otherwise.”“You have an eidetic memory. Probably a high IQ as well and an interest in psychology. I won’t tell anyone you’re scamming the tourists. I just want to know how you did it.” Spencer shifted his backpack.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt like Shawn was actually more mature and intelligent than he acted on Psych. It's been a while since I watched, but I remember seeing occasional glimpses of a serious side of him. I think the immaturity and stupidity are just a smoke screen to irritate his dad and cover for his not actually being psychic. So that's the way Shawn is going to be in this series. And yes, I'm making him pretend to be psychic way before he starts in canon, but I like the idea of Baby Spencer calling him out on his BS.
> 
> **There is no slash in this story but there will be Reid/Hotch and Shawn/Lassie slash in future installments of this series.**
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, Psych, or the characters. I'm just borrowing them.

Spencer sighed and stood at the edge of the sidewalk looking at the sand before him. He was used to sand. It was everywhere in Vegas, but it wasn’t something to be enjoyed. He wrinkled his nose watching the people that seemed to be enjoying themselves on the Santa Barbara beach. Both Karen and Rich had urged him to take a few books and his lunch to the beach for the day. He knew that they were just concerned that he was spending too much time indoors and wasn’t meeting anyone his own age, but it didn’t lessen his irritation at practically being forced to the beach. 

He pushed his glasses up before dropping onto the sand to remove his shoes and socks. He tucked his socks into his shoes before placing them in a plastic grocery bag inside his backpack. He didn’t want the sand and dirt from his shoes getting on his books. He wiggled his toes into the sand. It did feel nicer than the sand back home in Vegas, but it was still sand. It was going to get in his backpack and his books and be nearly impossible to remove completely from his body. He sighed again, standing to wander his way down the beach to find a place to sit. He slowed when he saw a small crowd gathered around a boy a few years older than he was. He stood at the edges of the crowd to watch. 

“I see...danger in your future.” The older boy had his head thrown back with one hand on his forehead. The other was groping across the face of a middle aged man. “It’s like The Young and the Restless over here. I see one… No! No! Two!” The boy whipped his head forward staring at the man. “You have two girlfriends? And a wife? Man! That’s impressive. How do you keep them from finding out about each other?”

Spencer chewed his lip to keep from laughing when the young woman standing next to the middle-aged man let loose a string of profanities, whacking him with her beach bag. The crowd laughed and jeered before tossing money into the hat at the boy’s feet and dispersing. The boy stuffed the money into his pocket. “You pretend to be psychic?”

“I am psychic.” The boy crossed his arms defensively.

Spencer snorted. “No such thing. You’re just cold reading people. What gave it away that the guy had two mistresses?” He followed the other boy as he trudged towards a bike rack at the edge of the beach.

“Look, Kid, I’m psychic. You can’t prove otherwise.” 

“You have an eidetic memory. Probably a high IQ as well and an interest in psychology. I won’t tell anyone you’re scamming the tourists. I just want to know how you did it.” Spencer shifted his backpack.

The teenager stopped and looked at him. “Tan line where a wedding band would sit. I knew about the second mistress because I saw him earlier with a different college girl over at the smoothie shop. I’m Shawn.”

“Spencer. How’d you learn to do that? Cold read him. Did you read a book?”  

It was Shawn’s turn to snort. “No, my dad’s a cop. He teaches me that crap.”

“Oh, my aunt’s a cop too. She’s with the SBPD.” Spencer followed Shawn to a bench and sat down.

“Yeah? Who? I know almost everyone in the SBPD.” Shawn began counting the money that he had been given.

“Karen Vick. My mom sent me here to live with her for the summer.” Spencer grimaced and looked around at the people at the beach. He saw a group of boys his own age playing with a dog and knew that his aunt would encourage him to go introduce himself, but he felt more comfortable talking to the older boy about his skill of conning the tourists.

Shawn bobbed his head. “Know her. She’s my dad’s partner. I have no idea how she puts up with him. He’s insufferable.”

“He at least spends some time with you. He can’t be that bad.” Spencer glanced at him sideways.

Shawn studied him with a slight frown. “You know what? Let’s make a deal. Neither of us discuss our fathers or mothers, and I’ll let you be my wingman for the summer.” He held out his hand with a grin.

Spencer hesitated then shook his hand and gave him a slight smile. “Deal. But why me?”

“You realized that I have an eidetic memory so you probably have one. You also caught on to my high IQ so you probably have one of those too. You don’t talk like a kid either.” Shawn grinned. “Plus my usual wing man is at summer camp. All summer long.” He rolled his eyes in disgust.

Spencer shrugged. “Oh. I’m going to start high school this fall. That might be why I don’t talk like a kid.”

“Sweet. Me too. Want a smoothie? I want a smoothie. Let’s go get a smoothie. This week’s special flavor is pineapple. My treat.” Shawn grinned and waved his money before stuffing it in his pocket. He stood up and headed to the bike rack without waiting for the other boy to follow.

Spencer hurried over while Shawn unchained his bicycle. “Can we go to the library after that?” He crammed his feet into his sneakers without socks when the older boy pointed a glance at his feet.

Shawn grinned. “Sure, Kid. We can go to the library.”

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "Toes" performed by the Zac Brown Band, written by Zac Brown, Wyatt Durette, John Driscoll Hopkins, Shawn Mullins. [Here's the music video.](https://youtu.be/lB8Nkn3Xjes)


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